


Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores

by Onmyliteraturebullshitagain



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Although they both resist this whole "liking each other" for a good chunk of the story, And then later because he likes that dumb prince, Angst and Feels, Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Canon Universe, Canon character ages, Colonialism, Developing Relationship, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Hurt/Comfort, Internal Conflict, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not really but Zuko thinks he is, Playing with Canon, Relationship conflits, Selkie Sokka (sort of), She steals the show, Slow Burn, Sokka could leave whenever but stays because strategy, Sokka is a prisoner on Zuko's ship, Southern Water Tribe, There's a komodo rhino, Unlearning Propaganda, longfic, opposite sides, star crossed lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29763717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onmyliteraturebullshitagain/pseuds/Onmyliteraturebullshitagain
Summary: The Water Tribe has kept the secrets of the sea-walkers, a gift of transformation that grants those blessed a tail and the ability to breathe underwater, away from the eyes of the rest of the world forever, and this secrecy has only become more important in light of the seemingly unending war and conquest of the Fire Nation. Sokka, as the last warrior and sea-walker in his village, knows this more than most.So when he finds himself accidentally pulled onto a Fire Nation ship, he chooses to stay aboard as their would-be "captive" rather than reveal the Water Tribe's secrets. But what he couldn't have imagined was that while aboard this ship, he'd form an unlikely bond with the exiled prince of the Fire Nation. This tenuous friendship grows into something considerably stronger the longer this pair navigates the biases created by their upbringings, the constant clash of their two worlds, and their feelings for each other. But there are still secrets and conflicts that can't be erased, and it's up to each of them to decide if they'll choose the worlds they're used to or fight for a new world where they can be together.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 263
Kudos: 248





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this [post and art](https://jasminedragonart.tumblr.com/post/641220990388600832/au-where-the-water-tribes-can-turn-into-selkies) by @jasminedragonart on Tumblr. I definitely took inspiration from their art and story beginning, but then this really took off in its own direction I could not have anticipated, specifically that Sokka is less a "selkie" and more a sort of transforming mermaid. :)
> 
> A huge thank you to hereforthefic_onlythefic for beta-ing this story and making my writing so infinitely better all around!

Sokka should have realized something was wrong when the otter penguins who'd been hunting alongside him all scattered. He watched them in surprise as they cut away through the water, lithe and fluid, but didn't think much of it. He'd been hunting these seas long enough he felt confident that, unless it was literally a polar orca or a piranha dolphin, he could handle it. 

It was neither of these things, but it also wasn't the easier and friendlier options he encountered frequently, like whale fish or puffin seals. It was something he most definitely hadn't encountered before, at least not in this context.

A net, large and heavy in the water, and weighted on the edges, closed on him and the remaining fish far too quickly. He kicked back with his tail in an attempt to propel himself away, feeling the way the net and water pulled at him. He slashed with his spear but to no avail, and the net was closing around him now. He hadn't even thought to bring his knife or any of his other tools, so sure just his seal tail and his spear and his knowledge of the oceans would be plenty. Sure, he'd ventured a bit further from home than normal, and sure, he didn't know these waters quite as well as the seas closer to his village. But he was the last warrior and hunter in his tribe. He could deal with anything. 

As he felt himself tangled, pulled up, he realized this was not the case.

For one of very few times in his life, he wished he'd been born a waterbender instead of a sea-walker. But Tui and La gave their gifts as they saw fit, and this was his. To transform his legs at will, breathe underwater the better to hunt for his tribe and defend their waters. It was a blessing, as respected as waterbending, and it was a part of himself he reveled in--to be strong and quick and explore parts of the world no other humans got to see. Well, it  _ had _ been a gift he'd reveled in until he was being hauled through the water, snarled up in a net that dragged at his arms and his tail, the light of the surface coming closer and closer above him. He didn't dare change back and lose the ability to breathe, but also, this wasn't a Water Tribe net and no one outside the South Pole was meant to know about sea-walkers. It was the one tiny advantage they still had over the Fire Nation, one little secret weapon they could still employ. Sea-walkers could track ships, could sneak through harbors, could disappear more easily than anyone else. His father and the other sea-walkers had left on their ships to fight the Fire Nation, to protect the South Pole and their secrets. And Sokka could be the one to ruin it all now, endanger his tribe, his people, sacrifice the sliver of power the Water Tribe felt they still had.

He struggled harder, yanking at the ropes of the net with his bare hands, feeling the way they cut into his palms, the world growing more and more bright. He kicked again, anything he could do to force the net downward, but it wasn't enough. 

His head broke the surface and he was hauled aloft, caught and vulnerable as any other fish. 

*

Fishing was another of those stupid necessities of life at sea that Zuko didn't have time for. He had more important things to worry about as the ship cut through the water, his eyes always on the lookout for any sign, any glimpse, any  _ hint  _ that the Avatar might be out there. He had to be. Zuko just had to keep looking, stay focused, not let himself get distracted with stupid, trivial things.

Like the men right now shouting about the catch that had just been hauled on board. What on earth could possibly warrant that much yelling?

Zuko sighed and headed toward them anyway. He was a prince; he ought to at least  _ pretend _ to care about the common people. 

"What is that?" someone was saying as he got close, and there was a great deal of crashing around happening within the circle of men who'd been fishing. 

"Looks like a kid," someone else said, which really caught Zuko's attention. 

A kid? Had they somehow caught some person who'd been thrown overboard?

"It's got a tail!" someone else asserted, and now finally Zuko shoved the last person out of the way and stared down at their catch. 

At first glance, yes, whoever or whatever it was did look like a shirtless boy tangled in the net. But even aspects of that were strange: the tattooed lines and symbols encircling the light brown skin of his forearms, the lithe muscling in his chest, the white choker around his throat, and finally the piercing blue of the eyes he suddenly turned on Zuko. They were wild, angry, as sharp and vivid as crested waves struck by the sun. The boy moved again, attempting to pull himself more upright with just his arms because yes, somehow, impossibly, the slope of his waist gave way to a tail of smooth grey and cream fur, patterned like it was dappled with sunlight. The tail was wrapped up in the net along with their handful of caught fish, lines of it looping over the boy’s shoulders and keeping him ensnared. As trapped as any sea creature, although he didn't gasp for air or thrash. Instead, he simply continued to try to pull himself free while his eyes flashed around the crowd again, mouth pulled into a snarl. 

How… how was it--he possible?

"Someone go get Prince Iroh," a crewmember said, breaking Zuko from his trance. "And the captain."

Zuko noted distantly no one seemed to care about his opinion on this development, which bit at him a little, but he was too distracted by the being in front of him to bring it up. The boy looked around again, still glaring, all his muscles tensed as if ready to fight them, even tangled in a net. 

"Let me go," he hissed suddenly, making everyone visibly twitch in surprise, Zuko included. His voice was as clear as any human's, even if accented ever so slightly with something Zuko couldn't claim to have encountered before.

But of course, when would he have encountered someone like this before?

The boy's tail lashed again, shoving him forward, and Iroh suddenly appeared in the crowd, stepping toward the front with the captain just behind him. The boy looked up at him now, still glaring and struggling. 

"Let me  _ go _ ," he repeated, more enunciated this time. "Get me out of this net."

The captain made some sort of gesture to ask for good fortune from the sea--a gesture that was  _ not  _ appropriately Fire Nation, which Zuko noted with distaste. 

"Every sailor's heard legends of the seal men, but…" the captain whispered, and many of the sailors around him muttered their agreement and made similar hand gestures. 

"But I don't believe anyone has actually encountered one until now," Iroh said, a little bit awed. "A rare wonder indeed."

Zuko looked aside at him but was startled by the boy's voice cutting through the murmurs of the crowd.

"Well great," he said with a sharp sarcasm, "now you've seen one. Now  _ let me go _ ."

"Do you know what this could mean for the Fire Nation?" someone muttered, and the boy's face flashed briefly with terror.

Zuko wasn't sure why that look of fear twisted at his gut. What could a mythical being like this have to fear from the Fire Nation? They were making the world better, civilizing it, the oceans included. If anything, the Fire Nation should be making the seal men safer because they were keeping the nations in control. And yet this person, just like too many of the Earth Kingdom citizens in the ports they landed in, looked at them with fear and hatred.

It made Zuko sick and angry, made his hands ball into fists.

"If nothing else," the captain was saying as Zuko drew his attention back, "we have to keep something this unique so we can learn everything we can from it."

The boy's face twitched with fear again, clearer and for longer this time, and Zuko's stomach clenched.

"We should let him go," he said before he even realized what he was saying. 

All eyes shifted to him, the seal man's, too. He looked surprised, nervous, shifted then to disbelieving. Zuko was struck again by the round blueness of those eyes, the soft oval of his face and the expressive movement of his mouth. He had to be around Zuko's age, if seal men aged the same way as humans, but Zuko just kept seeing that seal tail and thinking about innocent turtleducks and komodo rhinos. Animals that only wanted to survive, live and eat and be taken care of. Animals ought to be kept safe, and this boy should be kept safe too.

He didn't know why he knew that with such gut-wrenching assurance.

"Prince Zuko," Iroh said gently, "the captain may be right. We shouldn't squander an opportunity like this when it's presented to us."

The seal man's eyes were still on Zuko, maybe just a little bit pleading from his prone position on the deck, just a few strides in front of where Zuko stood and looked down at him. Holding so much power over someone powerless.

His gut twisted again.

"We should let him go," he said again, his voice a little softer and shakier now.

The boy's eyes stayed locked on his, but distantly he heard the crew muttering. Scoffing. Sneering. Mocking him and judging him and disrespecting him. He wasn't fit to lead, was too weak, too soft. He felt his expression sharpen again, and it was still turned on the seal man. At the shift that must have happened in Zuko's face, the seal man's face hardened back into a defiant glare.

"Or at least," Zuko said, voice louder and firmer, "if he's kept he should not be hurt. No one," he said more authoritatively, "will harm him while he's on board my ship."

"Very sensible, Prince Zuko," Iroh said with a nod and one of his pleased looks that made Zuko vaguely annoyed, and the captain crossed his arms but nodded his approval. "I'm sure we can find a way for the seal man to be comfortable while it--he is our guest."

"I won't be your guest," the seal man snapped, face contorted in anger. "I'll be your  _ prisoner _ ."

Zuko hated that look in the boy's face, the twist of fear and rage in his expression, but he couldn't appear weak.

"Take him below deck," Zuko commanded, but at the boy's eyes finding him again, he added, trying to keep his voice firm, "Find a way to fill Uncle's--Prince Iroh's bath with sea water to keep the seal man comfortable."

Iroh clucked his tongue and shook his head. "I'll miss my baths, but I suppose that is the most reasonable solution."

Zuko had been absolutely irate when Iroh had first brought the large barrel bath on board (more frivolous wastes of time--baths, tea, pai sho, and on and on with his uncle's foolishness) but now he was grateful to have it. The poor seal man must be more comfortable in water, right? Zuko could at least offer him that much.

A few of the soldiers--rather than the average sailors--cut the seal man free of the nets and tied his hands behind his back. He struggled against them as they did so, his body and tail thrashing as he yelled and cursed at them. But on a flat deck with his tail, he was clearly outmatched, so he was soon bound and being lifted by his arms and carried away. He shot Zuko a hateful look as he passed, borne helplessly away by armed men.

Zuko didn't know why that made him feel so terribly guilty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks all for reading and I hope you enjoyed! This first chapter is pretty short, but it definitely picks up from here (and i wasn't lying about this being a longfic so be warned...)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka and Zuko are off to a rocky start while Sokka plans when to escape while also keeping his sea-walker abilities secret.

As soon as the net was off him, Sokka could have transformed back, used his legs and the crew's surprise to run across the deck and dive back into the sea. But then the Fire Nation, the enemy, would know about the Water Tribe sea-walkers, and it would be Sokka's fault. If he stayed this way instead, kept his tail and played along, they seemed to think he was something else. A seal man, some mythical sort of creature with no connection to the Water Tribe at all. So he let himself be carried, biding his time. He let himself be untied and placed like a caught fish into a bucket, unsure if that treatment ought to be considered kind or insulting. Regardless, he found himself in a deep, mostly dark room in the metal belly of a Fire Nation ship. The dark, at least, wasn't a problem while he was transformed; the deep seas were far darker after all, and sea-walker eyes were made for that. But unlike the seas, everything here was cold and hard and touched with red. The fires burning in the metal holders on the walls and casting flickering light through the room. The banners with the Fire Nation's awful symbol. The clothing and armor of the guards who put him in the water and then didn't leave. 

He'd assumed they'd leave, believing him unable to escape, and he could make a break for it as soon as the coast was clear. But instead, they lingered by the door, watching him through the shadows of the faceplates on their helmets, directly between him and freedom. So even if he did transform, there was nowhere to go, no way to fight them.

He tried not to admit it to himself that he was finally afraid. 

So instead, he looked around the room, which seemed to be mostly used for storage. There were a few barrels along one side, lit by the fires caged on the walls, and there were crates stacked up on the other side, some labeled with what was within--rice, beans, spices, weaponry--and wrapped up bales of hay that must have been for something onboard. The weaponry at least gave him a moment of pause. Could he somehow get to one of those crates and get his hands on something he could use to fight his way out? He considered as he leaned his elbows against the side of the barrel and let his tail drift as much as possible, letting the motion calm him a little more. 

He was a warrior. He could figure this out.

Not too long after, the larger man with the grey, pointy beard who everyone seemed to obey appeared in the door. He greeted the guards politely and then stepped past them and walked toward Sokka. His face was clearly trying to play at kindness, gentleness, some friendly-old-grandpa mask that Sokka didn't buy for a moment. It was the Fire Nation. They probably wouldn't understand kindness or gentleness if they were slapped upside the head with it. 

Still, the fake-grandpa stopped a little away from Sokka and his odd little fish bowl. He folded his hands over his belly and gave another of those would-be kind smiles.

"I hope you're comfortable enough," he said. "We truly are honored to have you as a guest, even if the circumstances are a bit odd. But I promise you, we mean you no harm or disrespect."

Sokka glared and thought about saying something cutting. But this man, for his whole attempted appearance, was high-ranking in the Fire Nation. It was clear in his clothes, in his bearings, in how he matched everything on this awful metal boat. He might start to recognize something about the Water Tribe in Sokka's voice or words if Sokka spoke to him, even if he tried to be careful. So Sokka simply pushed to the back of the barrel bath, kept his mouth shut, and continued to glare. 

"Can you tell me about your people?" the old man asked, and then, "Where does your society live?" and "Have you always lived in this area?" and "Are you connected to the spirits?" and "Do your people have specific dietary restrictions or needs? and "Is there more we can do to make you comfortable while you stay with us?"

After each question there was a long pause while Sokka simply stared in annoyance and said nothing, and the old man simply nodded and asked something else that Sokka ignored. He could pretend to care about Sokka all he wanted, but he was  _ Fire Nation _ . They didn't care about anything but themselves and their war. So Sokka just kept ignoring the questions until he finally dipped far enough into the water that only his eyes were above, watching for threats, but his ears were below so that the man's stupid questions were nothing but muffled noises. The man stayed and kept asking things a while longer, hands crossed over his belly, but finally he gave an apologetic shake of his head, eyes a bit sad, and left. But the guards were still there, and Sokka was still stuck, nervous and angry and starting to get bored.

It didn't help that it was impossible to know what time of day it was or how long he'd been stuck there. He sighed and tried to float in the odd tub, which didn't entirely work but was at least something to do with himself. He smoothed down the fur of his tail and made little ripples in the water and shot the occasional daggered look at the guards still lurking. 

Whatever amount of time later, someone else entered. It was the younger guy with the bald head and the ponytail, the one who'd said to let Sokka go before apparently remembering he was a Fire Nation jerk and shutting him down here instead. He gave the guards a sharp look as he passed.

"He has a  _ tail _ ," the guy sneered. "Where do you think he's gonna go? Do we need to set some guards on the rhinos too now, or are you two done wasting time?"

The guards exchanged a look.

"Well, the captain said--" one guard began. 

"And I'm the prince," the boy spat, "and this is  _ my _ ship. Return to your regular tasks."

Both guards gave quick bows over their hands and left the room. So Sokka supposed he could thank the angry prince for that at least. Now at least he just had to watch for the right moment, transform, and then run. 

Sokka didn't say any of this of course, or make a snide remark like he wanted to. Spirits, he  _ wanted  _ to say something snipping, because there was just so much space for mocking with this angry prince: his hair, his frown, the scar on his face, the snooty way he looked at the world. But Sokka couldn't let himself. So to really keep himself from talking, he dipped the lower half of his face back into the water again, although he left his ears up this time, curious despite himself. 

The prince stepped forward, looking strangely stiff. 

"Um," he began, "are you... alright down here?"

Sokka could almost have laughed at that, but he forced it back and glared.

"Really," the prince went on, "I don't want you to be… hurt or uncomfortable or anything."

Sokka snorted into the water at that, unable to stop himself, and the prince looked affronted. 

"You can't…" he said and then looked angry. "Don't laugh at me!"

Sokka smiled anyway, amused. Touchy, wasn't he?

"I am the prince of the Fire Nation!" the guy continued. "And you're just--you're a  _ fish _ !"

Sokka allowed himself a smirk that was mostly hidden by the water, but apparently the angry prince saw it anyway.

"You will treat me with respect!" he snapped. "No one  _ laughs _ at a prince of the Fire Nation!"

Sokka just raised an eyebrow and stayed quiet.

"And you will answer our questions!" the shouty prince continued, jabbing a hand at him. "You are in my custody and will do as I say!"

_ In your custody for now _ , Sokka thought to himself, still watching this odd prince getting all huffy and frustrated with his non-responses,  _ and I certainly won't do what you say. _

"Talk!" the prince bellowed. 

Sokka would not. 

"Fine!" the prince yelled. "Then sit there and waste away in that tub! See what I care!"

Then he stormed off, loudly slamming the door behind him, and Sokka rose back out of the water and returned to drifting. He did have the nervous realization that he'd have to find a way out of here soon or do some serious snooping around if he didn't want to go hungry, but at least the guards were gone. He sighed and leaned back on the edge of the tub again, considering the door and the faint sound of people coming and going behind it. 

He'd have to bide his time, but he was a hunter. He knew how to wait and strike at the right moment.

The prince returned a little later, still snarly and glaring. 

"Are you ready to talk now?" he asked, crossing his arms over his armored chest.

Sokka sunk down into the water again, not moving his gaze from the guy's face. 

"We just want to learn about you and your people," the prince continued, clearly trying for a more cajoling tone and a more controlled expression. "What's the harm? There's no reason we can't all get along."

Sokka rolled his eyes, and the guy's face changed abruptly again, twisting with anger.

"Fine!" he barked, and suddenly his left hand was full of fire, bright orange and casting shadows that turned his face to a kind of monstrous mask. 

Sokka flinched in fear and pushed further back until he hit the wall of the tub, unable to shake the instinctive terror. Firebending meant pain, destruction, violence. That had been trained into him as well as any other lesson, any other truth about the world. It was evil, why the world was ruined, and now this prince was going to torture him with it. Did he dare transform? Make a run for it? He swallowed hard and dug his hands back into the wood of the tub, prepared to fight if he had to.

The prince's face flickered with something Sokka couldn't entirely read through the light on his expression, carving shadows along the edges of the scar and the line of his nose. Was it regret? Guilt? Sadness?

It was gone in a moment, and the fire with it. His hand hung empty in the air, everything plunged back into that soft near-darkness that Sokka could more comfortably see through. The prince's face was softer too, a little bit more like his expression when he'd said to let Sokka go. Sokka didn't trust it, of course, but it was better than the threat of burning.

"I…" the prince murmured, hands suddenly dropping completely. "I'm sorry."

Then he was gone again, shutting the door behind him once more, and Sokka let out a breath that made bubbles through the water.

What was wrong with this prince? Who was he? Why was he like this? Sokka had no answers for any of these questions, but at least he had nothing but time to figure it out.

He must have slept for a while, letting himself drift as he considered plans, and was only awakened by the door opening again. He jerked up, wary and wishing he had a weapon, and the water sloshed in the bath.

It was the stupid prince  _ again _ , holding a small fire in one hand, which made Sokka's heart lurch, but the other held a plate of cooked fish. What strategy was this now? The Fire Nation and its stupid tricks. But Sokka's stomach rumbled as he smelled the food even from across the room. The prince wasn't in armor anymore, no longer looking rage-y and threatening, and instead wore some sort of soft robe like someone might sleep in. 

Oh no, was it night already?

Sokka still watched him, not trusting what was happening as the prince shoved a crate up beside the bath and set the plate on top of it. Sokka's traitorous stomach growled just a little.

"I… thought you might be hungry," the prince offered, looking strangely awkward and apologetic, and his voice was different this time, although Sokka couldn’t have explained how. "I thought fish would be--oh but you probably eat it raw," he finished with dawning embarrassment. "I can… I can find some other fish too. Probably. Somewhere."

Since Sokka did  _ not  _ in fact want to eat raw fish and also was dealing with a continued grumbling hunger in his stomach, he reached out and grabbed the first piece of fish off the plate and bit into it. Not bad, although spicier than Sokka was used to, but he actually didn't mind it so much. He ate the rest quickly, grateful even as he still kept a distrustful eye on the prince.

The prince was watching him with a strange raptness. 

"So, cooked is ok, I guess?" the prince asked, and Sokka simply finished the last piece of food and let that be answer enough.

Then he pushed to the back of the tub again, as far from the prince as he could get while still watching him. 

"Um, ok then," the prince said, and this was definitely a different person from his angry display earlier. He actually looked like he could be about Sokka's age, even with the big scar on his face and his severe haircut and glare. Not that he and Sokka could  _ possibly  _ have anything in common beyond age, considering he was the enemy, but it was interesting to realize. A teenage prince on a ship alone in the middle of the ocean.

Sokka did appreciate the food, and the current lack of fire-based threats. His eyes did still drift to the flame in the prince's hand, nervous despite himself. The prince looked at it too and then extinguished it.

"So," the prince said, still so strangely awkward as he folded his empty hands behind his back and shifted his weight, "I thought seals were sort of… social. Had families or packs or… whatever."

Sokka simply watched him, unsure what any of this had to do with anything, what exactly the prince wanted.

The prince's face flickered with annoyance. "So I thought you might be--that maybe you'd get lonely down here all by yourself."

Sokka stared at him in surprise. 

The prince seemed to interpret his look and silence some other way Sokka didn't intend, because his face closed off again. 

"Look, I didn't  _ want  _ to make you stay down here! I wanted to let you go! So don't be mad at me!" he snapped. "It's not my fault I have to do what's best for the crew and the Fire Nation!"

Sokka felt his own face close off at that mention, that reminder, and he looked away.

"See, I don't get that!" the prince suddenly cried, motioning sharply at him. "You make that face when I mention the Fire Nation, but how do you even know what the Fire Nation  _ is _ ? Why would you be scared of it? Or mad at it! It doesn't make any sense!" 

He gave an angry little pace around the open space in front of the tub, brow furrowed and feet slapping against the metal, and then he stopped in front of Sokka again. With a loud sigh, he sunk down beside the tub, landing with a thump on the floor. Confused, Sokka pressed forward through the water and peeked over the side. The prince was sitting down, his back to the wood and his knees pulled up, his elbows rested on them. Sokka could really only see the top of his head, his shoulders, and his arms, and it was odd, how small and young he looked. Was… was this Sokka's chance to escape? Could he fight off one weird, emotional prince?

He remembered the fire in the guy's hand as he entered, and that threat from earlier, and decided against risking it.

"Look," the prince said quietly, "I'm sorry I couldn't let you go."

Surprised again, Sokka rested his folded arms on the side of the tub and continued to look down. 

"But you can't understand what it feels like!" the prince said shortly, making a futile gesture with his hands. "The pressure of this mission, of regaining my honor, of bringing glory to the Fire Nation. Everything I do matters. It's all scrutinized and I have to--" He grunted something almost like a bitter laugh as he shook his head. "You probably just have to swim around all day, not a care in the world, and that's why I don't get your distrust of the Fire Nation. It doesn't make sense."

He let out a long sigh, and Sokka just watched him, still confused. He hadn't even considered this angle, that maybe he could  _ gain  _ something from this terrible situation before he left. But maybe if this angry fire prince wanted to talk and, you know, maybe share some secrets that could help end the war, well maybe Sokka could hang around for a little while. 

Sokka rested his chin on his crossed arms, still peering down at the strange prince so near him, tucked into himself here in the mostly dark room. 

"I just want this mission to be done," the prince muttered, maybe mostly to himself. "I just want to go home."

Sokka felt his eyebrows furrow at that. What mission? Why couldn't he go home? Was it some sort of stealth mission for the war? Some secret task only fit for a prince? Sokka didn't know, but maybe he could find out. 

Still, the prince just made an angry noise and shoved away from the tub, stood up again, and turned. Sokka realized only then how close together they were since he'd still been leaning on the side. They were face to face now, just inches apart. The prince was near enough Sokka could make out the strange, almost pretty gold tone of his eyes against his pale skin as they widened, could see the varied pinks and reds of the scar on the left side of his face, the fringe of his lashes and the softness around his mouth. He was less scary, somehow, from this distance. For a moment, he just felt like another boy. 

The prince seemed to be watching him too, his eyes on Sokka's before drifting briefly lower and then back up. His face then turned just a little red and he took a step back, folding his arms tightly across his chest and frowning darkly again.

"Well, um," the prince said shortly, "at least you won't starve now. And if--I can try to make you more comfortable too, maybe. If there are things I can do."

Sokka considered him a moment, feeling something odd in his chest.

"Well," he said, and his voice cracked a little from disuse, "it is pretty boring down here."

The prince stared at him in amazement, as if maybe he'd forgotten he could speak at all.

"Oh," he replied. "Um, I could maybe bring you something to do. Tomorrow, I mean."

Sokka watched him for another moment.

"Ok," he said, because this was as good a plan as he could get.

Learn whatever secrets he could from the angry prince and then transform and leave whenever the opportunity presented itself. Easy enough.

"Do you--well, of course you have to have a name," the prince said abruptly, "but um, what is it? Your name, I mean?"

Sokka hadn't expected that either, that the prince would treat him like a person, but he at least knew immediately he couldn't give his real name. He couldn't risk offering anything that could connect the Fire Nation to the Water Tribe, to his village. So instead, he sorted through his brain for those words Gran Gran had taught him in the old language, long-forgotten except by the elders and the whispers of the sea. 

"Isux," Sokka replied finally. "My name is Isux."

_ Seal _ , he remembered vaguely, and as good a name as any for a situation like this.

The prince looked at him in surprise again, as if startled once more that Sokka could talk, or was talking to him, or would give him his name, or whatever else made a fire prince surprised.

"Isux," he repeated finally, and there was something almost reverent in the way his mouth formed the foreign word, just slightly husky with his Fire Nation tongue. "Thank you, Isux."

Sokka wasn't sure what for, but it still made something flip around in his stomach. He nodded anyway.

"Oh, and I'm Prince Zuko," the prince added quickly, like he'd forgotten he  _ also  _ had a name and should maybe share it.

Sokka couldn't hold back his grunt of laughter. "So I have to call you 'prince' every time?"

The prince looked floored again, and Sokka wondered if he was about to see a return to the shouty, fire-threatening jerk from earlier. 

Instead, the guy just said, sounding almost sad, "I suppose… your people don't have kings and princes."

"No, they don't," Sokka agreed with just a hint of disdain, and it wasn't a lie but also didn't reference the Water Tribe.

"Oh," the prince said, still watching him. "Then, um, I guess... just 'Zuko' is fine."

Sokka blinked at him, caught off guard by the fact that this odd prince who yelled about his royalness and respect would so quickly drop the title. But maybe that was a good sign that he'd open up to Sokka more, give him something valuable.

"Zuko," Sokka repeated. "Ok then."

They were still too near together somehow, something too strange between them.

"Ok then," Zuko echoed. "Well, I will--I can come back in the morning. With breakfast."

"You better," Sokka said with a smile before he could stop himself.

What was he  _ doing _ ? He shouldn't be joking around with the prince of the nation literally trying to destroy the whole world. 

But Zuko looked so immediately flabbergasted by humor that Sokka couldn't actually find it in himself to regret the moment of casual teasing between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note on the Water Tribe "old language" and some other developments of Water Tribe culture:  
> I know there's no references to separate languages in canon, but since i was already playing with canon culture, I added some names/words drawn from the Inuit language. Once again, I'm a white person and do not have any personal authority on Inuit culture at all, so any words/information given is just from my own research and is presented with all respect to the actual culture/language. This is all for fun, and I make no claims that my depiction of Inuit language/culture as expressed through the Water Tribe is anything more than fantasy. But I do want it to always come through respectfully. :)
> 
> From what I found, "Isux" is actually an Inuit word of "seal" that I felt worked here as Sokka's pseudonym. In the next chapter, I also utilized an Inuit word for the Aurora Borealis.
> 
> I also drew from an article I read about Inuit parenting, which is all about not showing anger to children and teaching them to regulate their emotions, in explaining later on in the story how the Water Tribe parent their kids. I felt this was a really important contrast to the Fire Nation and Ozai's abusive parenting specifically. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attempts at friendliness and culture clashes.

Zuko didn't know how to feel about the seal man, but he was embarrassed by his interest and attachment regardless. He didn't know why he'd gone back down in the middle of the night, why he'd sat and talked to him, but what he really didn't understand was why the seal man had actually talked back. But no, not the seal man. Isux. His name. Zuko hated the weird, warm feeling that gave him, but he pushed through anyway. 

If someone questioned him, it was easy enough to say that it was about gaining information, learning secrets, maybe getting intel on the Avatar. No one needed to know anything else.

Before he went to get food from the kitchen, he remembered Isux saying he was bored, so Zuko looked around his room for something that might entertain him. Presumably he couldn't read, so that eliminated any of Zuko's carefully hidden books and scrolls, and he wasn't about to ask Uncle to borrow one of his silly trinkets and confess how much Zuko was already thinking about that boy in the hold. But Uncle's trinkets made him remember something, a little gift from Uncle early on that he'd tucked away somewhere. It wasn't much, just a puzzle box Uncle had picked up at a port and thought (wrongly) that Zuko would enjoy. Only once Zuko threatened to burn or smash the box to get it open had Uncle actually shown him the trick to solving it. Now it sat open and empty, which meant there ought to be some sort of reward within. But what would Isux possibly enjoy finding if he solved the puzzle?

Zuko, realizing how stupid he was being, grabbed something out of the same drawer where the box had been, tossed it inside, and closed the box back up. Then he tucked the puzzle box into a pocket and headed for the kitchen. The cook gave him an odd look as he took a plate of fish but knew better, at Zuko's scowl, than to say anything to him. Zuko avoided anyone else and headed into the hold.

The room with the tub smelled like dust and sea salt and hay, quiet except for the occasional slosh of the water and creak of the ship as it moved through the sea. Zuko almost lit himself a flame to see better, but remembered the look of fear in Isux's face when he did and rejected the thought. There was enough light from the torches on the walls to make do anyway as he walked through the room, and as Isux rose out of the water to face him, Zuko was reminded that his brilliant blue eyes glowed ever so slightly in the dark. They were beautiful and unnerving at once, like so much of Isux in general: the shape of his face, the muscles in his arms, the lean taper of his waist.

Zuko tamped those thoughts down. It wasn't like that-- _ he _ wasn't like that. It was simply curiosity and a desire for information to help the Fire Nation. That was all that mattered. 

"I brought breakfast," Zuko said by way of greeting, and Isux actually smiled, just a little.

The boy was so very, very pretty when he smiled. It made Zuko's stomach turn over. 

He couldn't think that way and felt the frown pull at his face again. In response, Isux's own expression hardened, the smile falling away. Instead, he simply nodded and reached out to eat the food. Zuko watched him, unsure why he couldn’t look away, strangely drawn to the way his hands moved, the shape of his lips, the line of his throat as he swallowed. 

"Is it… I suppose it's different than the food you normally eat," Zuko said, still watching him. 

Isux met his eyes, finishing the last bite of fish. 

"A little," he said finally, voice a bit soft as his tongue ran across his upper lip. 

"But it's… ok?" Zuko asked, and then instantly felt annoyed with himself. Why did he care? He was only feeding the seal man out of necessity anyway.

Still, Isux licked a fingertip and watched him.

"Spicier than I'm used to," he admitted, "but yeah, it's ok."

Zuko nodded, twisting his hands behind his back.

"Well," he said shortly, "I should… go. Probably. Back to my work on deck."

"That important mission?" Isux asked, and Zuko was surprised he remembered. He simply nodded in response, unsure what else to say. 

"Oh, and I--" Zuko dug in his pocket and pulled out the box. "I brought you this."

He held the box out, and Isux stared at it, looking distrustful. Zuko frowned at him and shook the box a little.

"You said you were bored," he grunted, "so just take it."

Isux still hesitated, but he did reach out and take it into his hand, turning it over a few times with a furrowed brow. 

"It's a… square," he said flatly, looking to Zuko again. 

Zuko scoffed.

"It's a puzzle," he said shortly, "something to do." He held out a hand. "But if you don't want it--"

Isux snatched the box back toward his chest.

"I  _ want  _ it," he said, looking almost offended. "I just didn't know what it was. You don't have to be so snippy about everything."

_ Snippy _ ? Zuko glared, ready to remind this peasant that he was a  _ prince  _ and would be treated with respect. Isux couldn't talk to him like that! How dare he--

Then the boy kicked backwards with his tail, face turned down to study the box again, and Zuko's anger dissipated. Right. He was half animal. He was clearly as intelligent as any human, but he still wasn't part of that world. What could Isux possibly know about social conventions and hierarchy and appropriate conduct? Could Zuko really blame him for something he didn't or couldn't understand? 

"Fine," Zuko said, a bit of the offense still coming through in his voice, "I'll--maybe I'll come back later and see if you got it open."

Isux shot him a judgmental look, one eyebrow raised. "I'll get it open."

Zuko couldn't hold in his smirk. "We'll see."

Then he headed back on deck and forced himself to think about the Avatar, go back to his maps and scrolls and notes and pore over them again. They were still heading south to make a sweep along the South Pole just in case, by some chance, the Avatar had decided to hide amongst the Water Tribe. Why he’d want to huddle with a bunch of peasants in their little ice houses was beyond him, but he had to keep looking. There wasn't another choice.

He would earn his way back home, prove he was worthy of his title. It was the one point of light out in front of him. It was all he had.

Throughout the day, he saw a few people dip down below--the captain, his uncle, the navigator--and come back up looking frustrated or tired. Even Uncle looked just vaguely annoyed, which was unusual for him. Zuko continued to work but listened in.

"This is worthless if it just hides underwater and doesn't talk," the navigator grumbled.

"Give him time to adjust," Iroh said. "Soon he'll learn there's no reason to be so stubborn."

"Or it'll get hungry enough to give in," the captain said darkly. "Slowly starving would motivate anyone, even a seal man."

Zuko felt the way his hands clenched into fists but kept his mouth shut. 

He dipped back below with another plate of food later that day to find an exasperated Isux pulling at the puzzle box. He glared at Zuko as soon as he was within sight and shook the box at him. 

"This is some sort of Fire Nation trick!" the seal man barked. "It's not a puzzle at all and just some way for you to make me mad and miserable!"

Zuko actually gave a small laugh. 

"Oh, it's definitely a puzzle," he said at the boy's startled face. "It'll open if you get it right."

"Or I could just smash it," Isux announced with a glower.

"You can't  _ smash it _ ," Zuko barked back. "That's  _ cheating _ !"

"What do I care if it's cheating or not?" Isux asked, holding the box up over the side, and Zuko glared harder.

"Well even seal men must have some sense of honor!" Zuko argued. 

Isux lowered his hand, eyebrows drawing together. 

"What makes you say that?" he asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Well because you're--you're--" Zuko said with a gesture at him.

Isux watched him, face lifting just a little into a sort of smirk, and Zuko felt his cheeks warm. The seal man pushed himself toward the front of the tub, set the box back on the crate beside it, and leaned on his elbows again. His otherworldly eyes remained trained on Zuko's face. 

"I'm what?" he asked, looking a bit, of all things, like he was teasing Zuko.

_ Teasing  _ him. As if he wasn't a prince and was just some other boy. Zuko tightly crossed his arms.

"Even animals have some code of honor," he said firmly.

Isux's brow drew together again. "You think I'm an  _ animal _ ?"

"Of course--I mean, no," Zuko said quickly at the look on Isux's face. "You're not  _ all  _ animals, obviously. Just, you know--half animals. I mean--you have a tail."

Isux’s expression had gone abruptly dark. 

"So that's why you think it's ok to keep me down here? Because I'm just an  _ animal _ ?" His voice was almost a growl, laced through with anger and maybe a little hurt. 

"No!" Zuko said. "That's not--I didn't want to make you stay here! But you're not-- _ obviously _ you're not all human."

Isux’s jaw tightened, his eyes feeling a bit like they were cutting through Zuko like sun through ice. 

"I'm more human than someone like  _ you _ ," Isux said coldly, "someone who's ok with killing people and burning down the whole world just because he  _ can _ . If anyone here's an  _ animal _ ," he finished with a flash of white teeth, "it's the person from the  _ Fire Nation _ ."

Zuko had frozen completely in place, stunned and horrified for a long moment. But that quickly gave way to rage.

"What do you know about  _ anything _ ?" he yelled, and he could feel his hands heating up. "Don't you dare speak about me or my nation that way, you stupid beast!" 

Without even thinking, his hands came up and threw fire at the tub, little blasts that hit the side and sizzled, trying to catch against the treated wood. Isux drew back immediately, covering himself with both arms against the fire, breath coming out in a gasp. He recovered quickly, glaring, and then splashed water over the side of the tub to put out the small flames still trying to grab hold. 

"See?" he snapped as the smoke crept through the wet burn marks on the wood and drips of water ran down his arms. "You just proved my point,  _ animal _ ."

Zuko froze again, still seething with rage, and at that moment, Isux used his tail to fling a wave of water over the side of the tub, splashing Zuko squarely in the face and chest. He jolted at the salt and wetness hitting him, making him sputter and take a step back. He rubbed his hands over his dripping face and glared back at the tub, prepared to yell again. 

But Isux hadn’t emerged, the top of the water going still as the seal man hid below. Zuko glared and tried to take a breath like Uncle had told him to in the past and tried not to throw more fire. Instead, he walked forward, kicked the side of the tub once, which hurt his toes a little, and then stormed out. He ordered the first guard he passed to stand at the seal man's door, to prevent (however thin the chance might be) his escape. Then he shut himself back in his chambers.

The  _ Fire Nation _ were the animals? How dare he? The people of the Fire Nation were the most civilized in the world, the proudest, most powerful, and most advanced anywhere! Everyone knew that. It was as obvious as the sun rising and setting. Why else did stupid Isux think the war had become so necessary? How else would the Fire Nation possibly share their greatness without it? Were they just supposed to continue to advance and make the lives of their citizens the best anywhere and abandon the rest of the world? Let them stay backwards and savage forever?

Savage like the seal man, with his glowing eyes and that sharp tilt to his mouth, his quick words and his strange tattoos. 

This was all a foolish distraction anyway. Next time he'd demand Isux tell him anything he knew about the Avatar and be done with him. Let Uncle and the crew and whoever else do what they wanted with him.

The thought did not make his stomach twist. That had to be from something else. 

He went to the rhinos to try to calm down, because they were typically calm themselves while onboard the ship, and they'd listen to him and do what they were told. He told his lead rhino, in a rough, angry growl, all about Isux and his words and his face and all the wrong and stupid things he believed. She just continued chewing her hay and occasionally swinging her tail through the straw and turning a round, dark eye toward him as he talked. She twitched an ear every so often, which reassured him she was listening to him, and he finally crouched down and reached through the bars to scratch at her chin in the way he knew she liked. At least one benefit of this ship was that no one told him it was inappropriate to spend time with or befriend the rhinos like they had when he'd been a kid in the palace. That at least didn't matter now. He simply scratched Spike's chin and complained about Isux until he felt calm enough to head back to his room again without yelling at anyone. 

Once there, he tried to meditate like Uncle had taught him, making the candle flames rise and fall with his breath. He worked to clear his mind, be at peace, but still he just kept seeing the seal man's face, sharp with hatred, with anger, with fear. The blue of his eyes, the snarl of his teeth, the flash of terror when the fire came near.

How had an ocean creature possibly learned to fear fire?

Zuko changed clothes and read for a little while and meditated again and tried to sleep. But he couldn't, and once he'd tossed and turned until he wanted to punch something, he got up again. He could do something useful, go above and be sure they were still on course, go back through any mentions of the Avatar, no matter how brief or long ago. Instead, he found himself sneaking back down toward the storage room in the hold. He made his footfalls silent and kept to the shadows, and, although it should have angered him that his orders had been disobeyed, he was grateful there was no guard standing watch over the storage room with the seal man within. Zuko opened the door as quietly as he could and stopped when he heard the noise within.

Singing. 

The voice was steady and soft, but it had to be Isux. It was a song Zuko had never heard before, something slow and melodic almost like a lullaby. Isux sang, and it described some sort of lights over the sea, the dance of colors in the sky, the breath of salty wind and cold ice and the eternal whispers of the waves. Zuko stood pinned, listening to Isux's voice, the steady rise and fall of the melody, the lingering vowels and careful consonants. He hadn't even realized he'd shut his eyes, somehow seeing and feeling the image being sung. Before, he'd just viewed the sea as a kind of challenge to deal with or a source of food and transport. He'd certainly never thought of it this way, like something living, breathing, dancing, in a constant harmony with the stars and sky. 

It was considerably easier, as he stood there and listened, to calm his breath and clear his mind of anything but the lull of the song. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The puzzle box Zuko gives Sokka is inspired by Japanese puzzle boxes, which seriously do just look like smooth boxes and are notoriously complicated to open. I don't think there's anything like this in the regular Avatar universe that I could see, but whatever. I also I don't think we really see much of a music/song element of Water Tribe culture in the original, but it's something I added here just because I wanted to. Basically, I'm just playing fast-and-loose with canon elements and making up whatever else I want, so here we are. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you're continuing to enjoy! As always, comments are always so very appreciated, and you can always come talk to me further on tumblr: onmyliteraturebullshitagain


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more conversation and a hint of honesty.

Sokka was getting restless and actually felt just a little bad for blowing up at the prince. The prince was absolutely an ass, of course, but he was still also the only one that had actually talked to him like a person. Well, before he'd called him an animal, but at least he didn't view him as some sort of specimen to be prodded or a resource to be exploited like the other people did. They continued to pester him with questions, which he continued to ignore, and it was grating. The fake grandpa at least kept trying to pretend it was a friendly conversation and offered to make him more comfortable, but that was just another form of annoyance on its own. At least as they pestered, he also gleaned bits and pieces about the Fire Nation, about the ship, about this strange mission the prince was on. That, coupled with sitting by the door and listening to passing conversation, made it easier to remember that he was making the most of this opportunity while it was here. The prince and all his men were the enemy, after all.

He did miss the food, though. Not that he was going hungry by any means, even if it was a bit awkward snooping around a Fire Nation storage room naked and looking for snacks. But there was enough there that he could get by, and he pried open enough crates to get himself a store of food, a long knife that at least seemed similar to what he was used to, and a few pieces of clothing in black that he could use to escape. He didn't relish running around looking Fire Nation, but it was arguably better than just having nothing depending on how long he'd need to stay on his legs. Speaking of which, he'd never spent this long with his tail, or slept in water, so he stole what moments he could to transform back and walk and stretch and flex his feet from where they sometimes got a little cramped. He just kept an ear toward the door and was ready to fling himself back into his odd fishbowl if needed. He wouldn't give up the secrets of the Water Tribe. Whatever happened, he knew that much. So if that meant learning how to sleep in water or spend most of his time with his tail, he'd make it work. 

So when the stupid jerk prince appeared again a day later, Sokka was in the tub and leaning back with his elbows over the side. But as soon as he noticed the prince, he sunk back down into the water to watch him warily and refuse to speak. 

"Uncle said that's what you've been doing," the prince said. 

He had food again, Sokka noticed, which he set on the nearby crate. 

He didn't answer, though, and continued to glare and breathe through the water. 

Zuko lingered for a little while, shifting his weight on his feet and glancing at him and then away. 

"I hope you didn't get too hungry," he offered, gesturing at the plate, "but I brought more this time. Um, just in case."

Sokka refused to answer. Unless the prince was going to give him something useful about the Fire Nation, he had no interest in hearing what he had to say.

Zuko left not long after, and only then did Sokka eat the food he'd left behind. The prince did this a few more times that day, stopping in with food and trying to talk to him, but Sokka remained quiet and only ate the food after he was gone. Part of him expected Zuko to shout and throw fire again, but for some reason, he didn't. He was strangely formal, like he was holding himself back, and Sokka hated that too. Just like the old man and the sailors and the soldiers, it was all some version of pretend, all manipulation. 

It was annoying, having nothing to do and no one to talk to and no way to even take notes on the info he was getting. All he could do was poke around the storage room and glare at the people trying to talk to him and occasionally pull at the prince's stupid puzzle he still couldn't get open and sing old songs to himself once he was alone. He'd never been more grateful for Gran Gran and the village, all the story-songs sung around the fire to remember their history, their myths, their world. He could still feel his people with the sea-walker part of himself, how far away they were, what direction he needed to go to find them. A way to always get back, no matter how far across the ocean, the same way the whale fish and elephant koi and seal turtles could find their homes, their nesting places, their families. It was in his blood, another part of his gift from Tui and La, but right now… right now it was more like an ache. Feeling his people across the water, sensing the shape and distance of his home, but kept apart. All he could hold was that lingering knowledge and his memories. Those at least were a way to keep home with him, even in secret, because he missed them all like a literal pain at the bottom of his chest, the hollow just beneath his sternum.

_ His compass _ , his father had called it before he'd left, when he was helping teach Sokka to be a sea-walker like himself. A compass he could never lose, that would never be misplaced or taken away. Typically, there was a kind of comfort to that, carrying the feeling of home around in the base of his chest. But now, in the dark and quiet of the ship’s holds, all he could do when the separation hurt was drift in the water, stroke fingertips along his tattoos, and sing songs about his people. 

Sokka was in a light doze when he heard someone moving through the room, and it jerked him awake. He immediately splashed back and hit his elbow against one of the tub walls, but he moved up to face whoever it was, hands out and prepared to fight if needed. It was just the prince, though, actually holding his palms up in surprise. At least he wasn't holding any fire this time, and there was no threat in his face. He was also back in those softer robes, his feet quiet on the floor, and Sokka finally relaxed a little more, although he continued to glare.

The prince looked at him a moment longer, a sort of question in his face.

"I… I thought I'd sit with you. So you wouldn't be... lonely," he said quietly, and it was such an odd thing to say out of nowhere that Sokka just stared for a moment. 

Not waiting for permission, Zuko moved and sat beside the tub again, disappearing except for the sound of his back hitting the wood of the side. Sokka held still, unsure what exactly was happening. But when a little time had passed and the prince hadn't said or done anything else, he drifted forward to lean on the edge and look down at him again. Once more, he could only see him from above, the bow of his head, the shadows along his cheekbones and neck and shoulders. Sokka wasn't sure what tactic this might be, if this was some new version of manipulation or if… the prince genuinely worried that he was lonely. 

Which didn’t make any sense at all, and yet here they were.

They lingered together in silence a little longer, above and below, just sitting in the quiet, and Sokka wasn't much for shutting up, but this wasn't so bad. For some reason. He couldn't have said why. 

"Are they real?" the prince suddenly asked. "The lights in the sky over the ocean? In your song?"

Sokka blinked in surprise, unsure how to even begin unpacking that.

"When…" he began finally, "when did you hear me singing?"

"Last night," Zuko answered, his voice low in the heavy darkness of the room. "I was going to come see you, but you were singing and it was… pretty. So it felt weird to disturb you." 

From Sokka's vantage point, he could see the prince rub the back of his neck, tensed up again for some reason. 

"I… didn't realize anyone heard that," Sokka said softly. Had anything he'd sung given him away? Would the prince know he was Water Tribe? 

"I didn't  _ mean _ to listen," the prince grunted, defensive and tensing even more. "It's not like I was spying or something."

Sokka watched him, what he could see of the prince, for some sign that he knew something secret, that he would use that knowledge against his people. But there was no such indication. Just this tense, awkward boy sitting beside him, tucked into himself like he was ready to protect his body at any moment.

"Ok," Sokka said quietly. "I guess that's... ok."

For a while, there was only the sound of the ocean rushing against the hull of the ship, the creak of its bones, the crackle of the fires in the braziers on the walls.

"So…" the prince started again, "are the lights real? Or is it just a story?"

Sokka considered, running his tongue against his teeth. 

"They're real," he replied, because anyone in or around the South Pole would know them, Water Tribe or (presumably) seal men. He sought around once again for that ancient language, something more distant from his actual people and their words. "The  _ selamiut _ ."

" _ Selamiut, _ " Zuko repeated carefully, that same sort of precision in his tone as he’d had when saying Sokka’s fake name. "So… what is it? The lights?"

"Spirits, most people say," Sokka answered, picturing them again, his familiar southern sky and the elders around the fire, weaving the stories. "Some say they're the souls of those we love greeting us again from the other world." Sokka allowed himself a small smile. "I always liked that one." He let out a breath. "But they could also just be a different version of light, some way the sun interacts with the sky and ocean and snow in the south."

He bit his lip. Had that been too much, too close to his home? He held his breath.

"Wow," Zuko said quietly. "I bet… I bet it's Agni. There are old myths that say he dances sometimes, although most people don't believe those stories anymore."

"Agni?" Sokka asked.

"The great spirit of the sun and fire," Zuko explained. 

"Ah," Sokka replied. Of course the Fire Nation worshipped some weird fire spirit. "I… hadn't heard of that one."

Zuko actually gave a small laugh. "I guess that makes sense. Why would you?" He shifted, stretching one leg out in front of him and relaxing a little bit. "Agni is power and time, the constant turn of the sun and the seasons. The flame in every firebender--at least according to my uncle." His tone got stiffer and more distant again. "He's all about spirits and energy and all that weird stuff. It's not like it  _ matters _ in real life."

Sokka wasn't sure what to say to that abrupt, bristly change in tone. What was he so defensive about? Sokka decided not to ask and simply dropped his chin down on his arms where they rested on the edge of the tub, still considering the prince below him. Around them, the ship continued its gentle rocking.

"So the lights--the  _ selamiut, _ " Zuko sounded out the word carefully, tone quiet and hesitant again, "what does it look like? Can you… describe it?"

"Really?" Sokka asked. "I wouldn't think you'd be interested."

Zuko actually rotated, looking briefly up at him. "Why not?"

"Well… it doesn't have anything to do with the Fire Nation, for one thing," Sokka said, and he wasn't sure why he wanted to needle the prince this way but it felt like something he was supposed to do. 

Zuko looked away again with a huff. "I don't  _ only  _ focus on stuff related to the Fire Nation," he grumbled.

"Could've fooled me," Sokka muttered back. 

"Fine, then don't tell me," Zuko said, pulling back into himself again. "What'd I care about the  _ selamiut _ ?"

But his careful pronunciation of the word gave him away despite his sharp tone. Sokka wasn't sure why that made him soften, feel an annoying urge to apologize a little for being intentionally argumentative. 

He didn't apologize of course, but he did shift back to float as best he could in the water, looking up at the dark ceiling of the hold. 

"The  _ selamiut, _ " he began softly, "is a whole collection of lights, all different kinds in all different colors, that dance across the sky at night. It isn't always there--not every night--and sometimes it's just slowly swirling clouds of green or blue just above the horizon, barely visible at all. Sometimes it’s streaks of light across the stars, there and gone in a blink. But sometimes," he said, picturing it now, "it covers the whole sky for hours, a whole world of colors sweeping over the stars and lighting up the snow."

"Wow…" Zuko said softly. Strangely, the wonder in his voice made Sokka smile. 

So he told him a story about a time he'd been in the middle of the ocean and the  _ selamiut _ had appeared, filling the sky and reflecting in the water until it was hard to tell where the sky and sea ended. It was instead like he was floating in waves of lights and stars, the whole world alight.

Zuko was quiet for a long time after that, and Sokka actually pushed himself up from floating to check that he was still there at all. He was in the same place, leaning back against the tub, and he'd lost some of the tension that always made him seem so coiled up and on the verge of snapping.

"It sounds beautiful," the prince murmured finally. "I hope I see it while we're further south."

Sokka twitched at that. "The south? Why would you--you shouldn't go south!" he said quickly. "No, no, nothing fun down there at all. The lights really aren't  _ that  _ great, and it's just a lot of ice and snow--you should definitely just head back to the Fire Nation."

Zuko once again rotated to look at him, eyes narrowed this time.

"We're… already heading south," he said, clearly confused. "We'll be at the South Pole in two days."

"The…" Sokka began, his throat closing. "But… but  _ why _ ?"

Zuko turned more to look up at him, and there was that odd, pained expression again.

"I don't understand," he said, shaking his head. "Why-- _ why _ would a seal man fear and hate the Fire Nation like that? What could we have  _ done _ ?"

Sokka stared back at him, that twisting anger and fright still choking him a little. Did he tell him the truth? Was there any harm in it?

"The Fire Nation," he said, keeping his tone even, "is why my mom isn't alive anymore and why my dad left."

Zuko's face flinched with horror, eyes going wide in the frail torchlight, each line of his features pulled into sharp relief. Sokka refused to look down, keeping his chin lifted even as his heart thudded in his chest. 

"How…" Zuko said, voice raspy, "how?"

Sokka finally jerked his eyes away, pushing back in the tub to put more distance between them, so he didn’t have to see the prince anymore.

"It… doesn't matter how," he answered tightly. "It happened, and it's because of the Fire Nation and their war."

Zuko didn't move or say anything for a long time, and Sokka made no effort to go toward him again. His chest was tight with remembering it, the raid on the village, the day his dad went off to fight and left him behind. He blinked a few times, turning to watch the fire flicker in one of the holders on the wall, the way it crackled and shivered. He only looked back when Zuko stood, facing him again, expression still tight and drawn. 

"Isux…" he said softly, his shoulders tense again, his spine rigid.

Sokka didn't respond, just watched his face and the gold of his eyes.

"I…" Zuko began and then shut his mouth again. "Thank you for speaking with me," he said formally instead. "I'll be back in the morning with some breakfast."

Then he turned and started walking away, and there was something stiff and militaristic in his steps. A reminder as Sokka watched him that he was a soldier. Just another Fire Nation soldier. 

The door shut behind him, and Sokka sunk back into the water, wishing it was the cold, pure depths of the ocean where he could truly disappear. He rested his hand over his compass, feeling that far off call of home coming slowly, worryingly nearer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Selamiut" is actually an Inuit word meaning "sky dwellers" that refers to the northern lights as spirits of the departed. Again just hoping to gesture to the culture that inspired the Water Tribe as well as developing Water Tribe culture some more in this differing version.
> 
> I hope you're continuing to enjoy!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being stubborn and finding some things in common.

The cook knew by now to have an extra plate of food prepared when Zuko came in the next morning. It was the same spiced fish, but this time the cook had added rice and a small wedge of lemon, which most sailors were carefully rationed to keep them healthy. Zuko wasn't entirely sure if the cook really thought he was just taking extra portions for himself or if he thought the seal man actually wanted rice and lemon, too. Either way, Zuko took the plate and headed back into the hall only to nearly run into Iroh.

"Uncle," he said quickly, surprised to see him up this early. "What are you--I was just--"

"Prince Zuko," Iroh said with a small smile. He eyed the plate of food. "I'm glad to see you eating so well."

Zuko stared at him for a moment. "Right," he answered finally. "Um…"

"I'm afraid I haven't had much luck learning from our new guest," Iroh said, as if this made sense at all in what they had been talking about, "and it doesn't sound as though anyone else has either. But…" his smile was knowing, "maybe we should have considered other options, or other companions for this unique individual."

"I'm not his  _ companion, _ " Zuko spat immediately, forgetting that maybe he shouldn't have just admitted he was spending time with the seal man at all. "I'm hoping to gain valuable information. He could be useful to the Fire Nation."

"Of course," Iroh replied with a nod, "but, you know, Prince Zuko, there's no crime in having companionship with someone different from yourself. I know it can get lonely for a boy alone on a ship full of only adults."

Zuko glared at him. "I'm not  _ lonely _ ," he snapped, "and I'm not a  _ boy _ . I'm the prince of the Fire Nation, and I'm only doing what I think will better our country and help me in my mission. I don't get distracted with frivolous  _ nothings _ ," he added, "unlike  _ some _ people."

For all Zuko's biting tone, Iroh simply nodded and gave him a slightly sad smile. 

"Well, I wish you a pleasant meal," he said, "and my door is always open if you'd like to share a cup of tea."

Zuko huffed and moved past him, irritated again. His uncle was always so frustrating. He talked in riddles and never seemed affected by anything and didn't seem to care much about the Fire Nation or this mission at all. And to think he'd been a general in the past, been at the peak of power and influence! And now he was just a lazy old man playing pai sho and drinking tea and having music nights. Was that what Zuko would become too if he didn't succeed, if he let himself lose focus? Just a fool with no purpose, no power, no position?

Zuko shook his head, jaw tight as he headed down the stairs. He wouldn't let that happen. That wouldn't be him. 

Isux rose out of the water as Zuko approached, and his skin glistened in the wan light as he did so. The water slid down his throat, over the lines of his shoulders, the slope of his waist and abdomen. Zuko jerked his eyes away, unsure why he was looking at all. He clenched his jaw harder and forced himself to only look at Isux's face. But that meant looking at his eyes and the angle of his cheekbones and the slight part of his lips and the shape of his jaw. 

It was only because he was so otherworldly, so different from anyone Zuko had ever been around, and because Zuko wasn't used to constantly interacting with someone who wasn't wearing clothes. That was all at was. Nothing stranger than that. 

Especially in light of his uncle's comments, he had to stay apart, remember that he was a prince and was only having these interactions because it could benefit him in regaining his honor. With this in mind, he set the plate of food down on the crate, stepped away again and folded his hands behind his back, keeping the lines of his body straight as he watched the tub. 

Isux gave him a curious look but pressed toward the food. He went for it immediately, although he didn't touch the lemon wedge until he'd eaten everything else. Then he picked that up and sniffed it before giving it a quick lick. His look of surprise at the sourness actually made Zuko laugh, just a little.

"What  _ is  _ this?" Isux asked, face still pinched.

"It's a fruit," Zuko replied, still unable to hold back his smile. "Sailors have to eat some every day or they'll get sick on board."

"Well I'm not a Fire Nation sailor," Isux said, sounding almost offended as he poked at the lemon again. "And this is  _ awful _ ."

"It's not awful!" Zuko replied, matching his offended tone. "It's  _ good _ ."

"I feel like my mouth is shriveling up!" Isux said as he licked at it just a little bit again and made another pinched face. "Why would anyone choose to eat this? Aren’t there other fruits?"

"It travels well and it's good for you, even if it doesn't taste good," Zuko said shortly. "And, well, it's actually really good in other things," he added, remembering home and thinking, unbidden, of his mother and the festivals when she'd still been around. "Pastries especially," he said softly, "where they mix the lemon with sugars and creams so the filling's tart and sweet at once."

"See, that actually sounds pretty good," Isux offered. "Why can't I have one of those?"

Zuko shifted his weight and returned to his appropriate pose, muscles tight. 

"There are no  _ pastries _ ," he said sternly, "on my ship. They're a luxury, and we don't need them. We don't have time for things like that."

"Ah," Isux said, setting the lemon back on the plate. "Your important mission again?"

"Yes," Zuko replied shortly, hands clenching tighter behind him.

"Which I still don't know anything about," Isux pressed.

Zuko frowned at him. "You don't need to know anything about it."

Isux shrugged. "I guess. Still, it seems pretty sad if you can't even stop for a pastry or something."

"It's  _ essential _ . My responsibility,” Zuko said, frowning. "You wouldn't understand."

"Oh I wouldn't?" Isux said, eyes snapping to his again, and his face had taken on that hard seriousness again. "You think I've never had responsibilities? Had to take on a mission only I could handle?"

Zuko stared, shifting a little from his stance again. 

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes," Isux replied, and rested his hands on the side of the tub, still facing him, "so don't pretend you're the only one in the whole world dealing with that kind of pressure."

Zuko wasn't sure what to say to that. Part of him wanted to glare and yell and say that Isux couldn't possibly know what it was like to be a human and a prince, especially one that was banished and fighting tooth and nail to gain back his honor and his rightful place. That no animal could possibly fathom that--no other person even could fathom what Zuko carried around all the time like a chain around his neck. He felt it all the time, that ache. It hurt in the middle of his chest, in the palms of his hands, and every time he caught sight of his face in a mirror. What could a beautiful seal man, smooth and unscarred, with the whole of the ocean at his fingertips and no kings and nations hemming him in, possibly know about that kind of pain?

But the words died in his throat, realizing those feelings like a kind of blow. He pushed them away as he continued to face Isux, something turning over inside him at the way he looked back, the proudly raised head, the icy certainty in those underwater-blue eyes. 

"What was your mission? Your responsibility?" Zuko asked.

"Why?" Isux replied, eyes narrowing. "Why would you care? You won't tell me about yours."

They stared at each other, both unyielding, and Zuko had the strange and somewhat frightening realization that he may have met his match. Not in fighting, of course, with Zuko's fire or his dao, but in will. That innate, unbreakable bit inside of him he'd felt so sure no one could understand. 

"I have to find and capture the Avatar," he said, voice low but unwavering. "That's my mission."

Isux's eyes widened again. "The Avatar? But… what? No one's seen him in a hundred years."

Zuko shook his head, allowing himself the barest laugh. "So even the seal men know of the Avatar."

Isux dipped further down into the water, dangling his elbows over the side of the tub. "Well…" he said, something strained in his face, "we're part of this world, aren't we?"

"I guess you are," Zuko replied. "But there. Now you know."

Isux watched him and chewed on his bottom lip. "Why… why would you want to capture the Avatar?"

Zuko stared at him a moment, confused. 

"For… for the Fire Lord. Obviously," he answered after a second.

"Yeah, but… why?" Isux asked, and Zuko had no idea why this was so hard for him to understand. 

"Because the Avatar is a threat to the Fire Nation," he said slowly, in case this was some sort of language barrier or some other human society thing a seal man might not understand. 

But Isux seemed to, his face flickering through a number of emotions. Something had tightened across the lines of his neck and shoulder, although he didn't change the rest of his pose, the droplets of water running down his arms and dripping off his elbows.

"Still," he said. "Seems like a weird mission for a prince."

Zuko frowned and felt his hands turn to fists again. 

"It's important," he said. "I'm doing something valuable, a task assigned by the Fire Lord himself."

Isux put up a palm in concession. 

"Hey, what would I know?" he said. "It just seems a little like a wild turkey goose chase, is all."

Zuko forced down the feeling in his gut, the voice that every so often whispered the same thing to him when he continued to find no sign, no hint, no progress. That horrible lingering fear that it was hopeless, that maybe his father… 

"Well, it's not," he said shortly, clenching his jaw and forcing those thoughts away again. “It’s my mission, my chance to regain my honor.”

Isux watched him, still looking a bit disbelieving.

“You don’t know anything about the Avatar, do you?” Zuko pressed, because here was the opportunity. “You or your people?”

Isux shook his head. “No,” he said. “We’ve heard of the Avatar, of course, but everyone thinks he’s dead. Or gone. Or something.”

“No signs? Nothing?” Zuko pushed even more, and Isux’s look actually got almost… sad. But why? Why would he look at Zuko that way? It made him squeeze his hands tight again, frustrated the same way he got at Uncle.

“No,” Isux replied, shaking his head again. “People don’t even really talk about the Avatar anymore--well, my sister still believes in him, I guess. That he’ll come back or something and fix the world. But…” His face closed off again, and Zuko didn't know why that change of expression hurt him. “No. There’s never been any sign of him in the south.”

Zuko hated that his stomach still dropped, that he had to keep grasping at any straw, any glimmer of hope, no matter how small. 

“Well,” he said shortly, “I have to look anyway. And it's not as though he’d been in the ocean, so maybe your people just missed him.”

Isux frowned at him, bringing up a damp hand to run it backward through his hair, still secured back with a tie. A few drops of water slid down his face, and Zuko tracked their movement without meaning to.

“What’s your responsibility then?” Zuko asked, and he knew his voice was coming out clipped again. “If you think you can understand my mission so well?”

Isux’s face had hardened again, and he pushed himself a bit straighter in the water. 

“I’m the last warrior in my vil--home,” he said, voice almost sharp. “I’m the only one left to stand between them and danger. It all falls on me, protecting them.”

Zuko hadn’t expected that, the declaration or the firm set of the seal man’s face, the way he squared his shoulders, as if physically standing between danger and his people right now. But… Zuko looked him over again, quickly and furtively. He was lean with muscle, sure, and had those tattoos around his forearms, but he was still only a boy, maybe Zuko’s age. And yes, Zuko was a prince and a warrior and a leader, making him considerably more than just a "boy" and yet even he couldn't quite imagine taking on this mission without the crew, without his uncle. How had Isux ended up the only one left? Why just him? 

Then he remembered his previous statement, how the Fire Nation had taken his mother and somehow made his father leave. Were even the seal men out fighting in the war? Or had the men been forced to leave for some other reason?

Regardless, Isux was alone, and he believed it was the Fire Nation’s fault.

And Zuko hated the odd guilt that it made rise up in his middle. 

"Well," he said shortly, and wasn't sure where he'd been planning to go with that statement. His eyes alighted on the plate. "If you're not going to eat that lemon, then I will."

Isux picked up the wedge of fruit and held it out. "Be my guest," he said.

Zuko took it, strangely aware for a moment where Isux's fingertips had held it, where his tongue had tasted it for just a moment. His throat felt tight, but he lifted and bit into the fruit, prepared for the sharp burst of sourness in his mouth, the segmented chunks of soft, tart flesh. He tore it from the rind and dropped the remainder back on the plate, chewing slowly, and only realized then that Isux was watching him still, something strange in his face. Zuko licked one drop of escaping juice from his lower lip, unsure why he stared back. It was like a different kind of challenge than before, although a similar sense of tension, of the thinned air between them. 

"I can…" he said after he swallowed, "come back again later. If you want."

"I…" Isux replied, that odd expression still in his eyes before they closed off again, distanced themselves once more. He moved back to lean against the far wall of the tub. "I don't care what you do."

Zuko nodded at that and left then, mouth still heavy with that now familiar sour taste, mind still heavy with those shadowy doubts that plagued him against his better judgement. He struggled to sleep again that night, twisted up with worry. He wanted--needed to go home, more than anything else in the world. It was his only purpose, his only direction, his only sense of worth. But what if Isux was right and it was just a fool's errand? He shut his eyes tight and pulled the blanket up over his head and wished that it would somehow block out his thoughts as well. 

But the next morning, there was a beam of light out in front of them, somehow unnatural, some sign. It had to be. He leaned against the rail and shouted directions, that ember of hope kindled up again and burning back his fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh look the actual start of Book 1! :) I hope you're continuing to enjoy this story! Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka gets a chance to talk to Katara, and Zuko's mission intensifies. But what are they gonna do about each other?

Sokka had no idea what was going on. There was a lot of shouting and pounding feet and the sound of fire blasts and screams. But when he heard the words "Avatar" and then, more frighteningly, "Water Tribe girl," he decided it was time to investigate. He climbed out of the tub quickly, did his best to sloosh himself dry before pulling on the borrowed clothes he'd found. It was just a pair of black leggings, a little too big, and a black tunic he could tie around himself, and he didn't have any shoes, but it was something. With a quick check that all was clear, he darted out of the storage room and ran as quietly as he could down the hallways and up the stairs toward the deck. Luckily, below deck seemed mostly abandoned, at least the areas he was in, and, like all sea-walkers, he had an excellent sense of direction and memory for where he'd been. He kept to the shadows anyway as he followed the winding halls up to the last set of stairs that led to the deck, and he peeked his head carefully out to see what was happening.

The first thing he noticed was an enormous creature with six legs and massive horns and a heavy tail, and it was bellowing like an angry hippo cow as firebenders shot their blasts and soldiers ran forward with their spears. So… that was unexpected. Then the next unexpected thing was a bald boy with arrow tattoos who was twirling around a staff and flinging Fire Nation soldiers back with bursts of air. Air. Like an air bender, even though they'd been wiped out by the Fire Nation almost a century ago. But here he was, a kid in orange halfway flying and very clearly airbending around the deck of the ship and around obstacles and over the heads of the soldiers.

Then Sokka saw who was with him and stopped caring at all about the airbender boy or the giant cow monster.

Katara. Trying desperately to do her waterbending and freeze the soldiers in place, looking so young and so small against the enemy.

Sokka pushed the door open and moved out into the chaos, keeping to the walls and shadows and out of the way, but constantly oriented toward Katara, working his way closer and closer. There weren't a lot of places he could hide on deck, forcing him to dart from behind crates or against walls, but thankfully, no one was paying any attention to him with everything else happening on the deck. The prince was shouting and trying to catch the airbender boy as fire and air and water flew across the deck in every direction. Sokka ducked down behind a few barrels, keeping an eye out, and then darted closer to Katara and behind a wall of some little room--a lookout or navigation room? It didn't matter. What mattered was that Katara was nearby, and Sokka just needed the right moment where everyone was distracted to get her attention, talk to her again, ask her questions. Something. Some reassurance that she was ok and knew what she was doing, that she also knew he hadn't died or  _ really _ been kidnapped. 

The cow monster thing roared again, and even Sokka felt the burst of air it threw across the deck. It even knocked Katara back, close enough now, just enough, that he could touch her.

Sokka grabbed her arm and pulled to drag her behind the small wall with him. She instantly squeaked and yanked away and spun to waterbend at him (or just punch him in the face, which was also a possibility). He gestured sharply before she could, and her eyes widened.

"Sokka?" she said, eyes wide and jaw dropped. But then she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed, pressing her face into his shoulder. "You're here--we were so scared when you didn't come home and I've been looking for you everywhere! How are--what are you--" She drew back and stared at him, touching his face, his shoulder, his chest. "What are you doing here?"

"Long story--sort of got kidnapped by the Fire Nation but now I'm just staying so they don't learn about sea-walkers--don't exactly want them learning the last Water Tribe secret. And while I'm stuck here, I'm trying to learn something to help fight against them." Sokka looked just past her to be sure they were still safe and alone. "Is that really the Avatar?" he added with a motion back toward the continued fighting. 

"Yes," Katara said immediately, so sure, "I found him while I was trying to find you, and he's real and he's  _ here,  _ so come on. We can both help him. But we have to  _ go _ ."

Sokka almost went, let himself be dragged along and possibly onto the cow monster since it seemed to be wearing a saddle. He could be free of this, done with the fish bowl and the men with their irritating questions, done with the loneliness and the boredom and the worry. Done with the ache of his compass because Katara and his village were far away. Done with the prince and his confusing mood swings and strange beliefs and odd, vulnerable expressions.

He wasn't sure why the last one gave him pause, but there wasn't time for that. What really stopped him was that someone would see. Someone would know who and what he actually was if they saw him beside Katara. They looked too similar side by side, and she was very clearly Water Tribe. How could he risk his tribe that way, risk the sea-walkers like his dad and the other warriors out fighting the Fire Nation right now?

And if that really was the Avatar and if Zuko--the prince was really after him…

"I can't," he said, as much as it immediately pained him to say, stomach sick with the words. "I have to stay here."

"What? No!" Katara replied instantly, grabbing his arms and clinging tight.

"The Fire Nation can't know about us," Sokka said, throat tight, "and they'd know. They'd recognize me."

Katara's eyes were round. "Sokka…" she said, but he shook his head and forced himself on.

"And maybe…" Sokka continued, "maybe I can do more good here. As a man on the inside. They'd never suspect me and I could get more information, use it to help you."

Katara stared at him and her fingers dug harder into his arms. "What are you talking about?"

"The prince is gonna track the Avatar," Sokka added quickly, making up this plan as he said it, brain moving quickly, "which means I can know what the Fire Nation is doing, can warn you if they're getting close to you."

" _ How _ ?" Katara said, finally interjecting. "Sokka, it's too dangerous--"

"It's not," he said. "I'm ok here! They think I'm some mythical being so it's the perfect position to be in."

"But I can't--" Katara said, and her voice trembled a little bit. "I can't lose you too."

"You couldn't," he said immediately. "You won't. You think a sea-walker can't find his family anywhere?" He tapped on his chest, forcing a smile. "It's right here like a homing beacon. You know that. I can protect you this way."

"It's not--it's too--" Katara began again.

"Don't say it's too dangerous when you're about to run off with the  _ Avatar _ ," Sokka said, trying to keep his tone light. "I just have to deal with some nosey people and a grouchy prince."

"But… this prince," Katara pressed. "How do you know he won't hurt you? Why do you think he'd listen to you?"

"Because I'm brilliant and charming, obviously," Sokka said, and then heard a louder bang and another roar from the cow monster. He reached up and grabbed her arms too. "We can do this. We're Water Tribe, and we'll beat the Fire Nation on both fronts." His chest ached with worry, but he squeezed his hands. "But now you have to go."

Katara glanced aside and then back at him.

"I don't wanna leave you," she whispered, voice thick.

"I'll see you soon," Sokka said and then reached out to tap her chest too. Not that she had a compass, but she'd understand. "Right here, remember? You're my blood. I could find you across a hundred oceans."

Katara's eyes were a bit over-bright as she looked at him, but she simply bit her lip and put her arms around his neck again, holding hard. 

"Find us as soon as you can, but  _ only _ ," she said into his shoulder, "if you'll be safe."

"I'll be safe," Sokka promised and then pulled back as there was more yelling, including the Avatar shouting Katara's name. "Now you have to go. You gotta get out of here."

Katara took another second to stare at him before she jerked away and darted back around the corner. He looked around it too, watching her go into danger, throw around her magic water, catch the hand of the airbender boy and be lifted with him into the strange saddle on the cow monster. Ever so briefly, she looked back for him too, and then the creature was  _ flying _ , incredibly, rising right into the air. The soldiers were yelling and still throwing fire, but the others were getting away. Katara was getting away. 

And oh, no, Sokka was out of time. 

He needed to get back to the hold before someone saw him or went down to check on their captive seal man and found him missing. But there was slightly less chaos now, and he had to stay hidden somehow, avoid suspicion. Luckily, he was a hunter. He knew how to wait. He knew how to watch. So while the people on deck were turned away trying to get unfrozen or fish their fellow crew members out of the water, Sokka walked. He drew no attention to himself, just another man dressed in black on the deck. He still walked quickly, of course, and he was glad now that he didn't have shoes because he made very little noise as he moved. He still paused at any hiding space to check for safety again, but the Fire Nation didn't expect anything, not after the wild, loud nature of the previous fight. He hit the main door and didn't bother to look around again, just ducked below and kept walking. Somewhere behind him, someone might have been addressing him, but he ignored it. Only once the door shut behind him did he run, sprinting down the stairs and through the hallways, heart hammering in his chest. He at least trusted that he knew the way and that most people were still dealing with the fallout from on deck, so he got to the storage room door without incident, threw it open, and shut it tight behind him. He moved through the room, stubbing his toes and whacking his shins far more now that he didn't have his sea-walker eyes. He peeled himself back out of the borrowed Fire Nation clothes, and tried to think about this plan. This crazy, crazy plan that hinged on him being able to get on and off the ship without incident, get information from the prince, find Katara, hope no one noticed he was missing, and keep his identity secret.

Like he said, crazy. 

"What am I  _ doing _ ?" he muttered to himself, dumping his clothes back behind the tub in their hiding place. "How is this supposed to work? What was I thinking?"

He hopped up on the edge of the tub just as he heard the door of the storage room open. Panicked, he dropped back instantly into the water with a loud splash and transformed so he had a tail, sputtering a little as the water got up his nose before he'd fully changed. That, of course, made the splashing and sputtering worse, so he didn't see who it was approaching until the person was almost right in front of him.

The prince, his face more exuberant and uncontrolled than Sokka had seen in quite a while.

"Isux!" he said, a little breathless. "Isux, the Avatar is alive! He's a kid and he's alive, and an airbender! And he actually has a sky bison, which might make it hard, but he's  _ real _ and there's really a chance now! I could capture him--I could go  _ home _ ."

Sokka stared at him for a moment, the odd elation and determination suddenly in Zuko's face, the gleam of the light in his eyes, the eagerness and opened hands.

Oh right, he should answer.

"Oh, is  _ that  _ what all that noise was?" he said, voice a little high. "Wow, crazy! I had no idea. Obviously. Totally new information, you know, since I've been stuck down here. So wow, the Avatar!"

Zuko squinted at him a little, some of the distance returning to his face. 

"Right, why… why would you care?" he said, almost to himself. "Why would you care about my mission? I don't know why--why I wanted to tell you--"

"No, I do care!" Sokka said quickly as he saw an opportunity disappearing, that door shutting. "I do! I'm just surprised is all, since it's been so long and no one's seen him, but really, tell me about it!"

Zuko was closing off again; Sokka could see it happening.

"No, it's my mission," he said, a bit stiffly, as he started to turn away again, "and I shouldn't have come down here and been--"

"No, stay here!" Sokka said, leaning over the side and reaching out before he thought about it. He wrapped his hand around Zuko's wrist, stopping him from leaving. 

Sokka knew, being Water Tribe and especially a sea-walker, that he ran a bit cold, but Zuko's skin was almost feverish comparatively. Not feverish in the sense of the sweat or clamminess but in the warmth of it immediately seeping into Sokka's palm. But more startling was the prince's twitch of surprise, his parted lips as he looked back at Sokka and then down at the hand around his wrist. Sokka looked at it too, the paleness of Zuko's skin, the strange difference between his own bare, tattooed arms and Zuko's heavily covered ones. He looked back up at the other boy's eyes, unsure why he did, what that jolt in his stomach meant at the attention and vividness he found there.

He wasn't sure if he let go first or if Zuko pulled away first or if they separated at the same moment. But abruptly they were apart again anyway, Sokka's hand still surprisingly warm from the prince's skin. Zuko hadn't moved away or stopped looking at him, though. Sokka tried for a teasing sort of smile.

"Come on, you're not gonna tell me about the most interesting thing to happen since I've been on this big, boring boat?" he said, giving a small laugh. "And here I thought we were becoming friends."

He hadn't realized what he'd said until it was already out, and that was a strange and frightening realization. He'd… started thinking of the prince of the Fire Nation, the definition of the "bad guy," as his friend? Was that real or was he just quicker and better at espionage than he even realized?

Definitely the second one. Still, he smiled at the startled look on Zuko's face, the vulnerability that came across it, a recognizable, if different, kind of longing suddenly there.

"You…" the prince finally managed, "you thought we…?"

"Well, don't get all weird about it," Sokka said, splashing at him a little, which made a bit of a glare come back to Zuko's face. "I don't talk to anyone else so I  _ guess _ , by the loosest definition, you are maybe, sort of, just barely, kinda becoming my friend."

Zuko swallowed and turned back toward him, flicking a bit of water off his sleeve. 

"Fine then," he said, clearly attempting some sort of regal tone and face, "I guess we can be kind-of-friends, then. If you really want."

"If  _ I  _ want?" Sokka said with a snort. "You're the one who keeps coming to  _ me _ , buddy."

Zuko glowered again, which by now was a much more familiar and comfortable expression between them. Sokka smiled again. 

"So you gonna tell me about the Avatar or not?" Sokka asked, leaning on his elbows and raising an eyebrow. 

And Zuko did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we enter the actual plot, although the repressed gay longing and emotionally fraught arguments definitely continues. Hopefully you're all still along for the ride because there's lots still to go!! :)


End file.
